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September 26 2012

2:14 PM

Brandt Snedeker was second in
driving accuracy last week with a four-year-old
driver.

By PGA TOUR staff Chances are, you've never heard of
Aerotech, but this small Washington golf company had a major impact
on the 2012 PGA TOUR season. Graphite-shafted irons are still a
vast minority on TOUR, but the numbers are growing, especially
among some of the bigger names in the sport. Matt Kuchar was among
the first to convert -- he switched a couple of years ago -- and he
brought Brandt Snedeker along with him. Carl Pettersson also had a
career year while playing the shafts, which have a graphite core,
but reinforcing steel fiber lacing the shaft surface. Aerotech
began making golf shafts in 1994, but it wasn't until Matt Kuchar's
big year in 2010 that the company started to grab an important
piece of the PGA TOUR market. A big reason the shafts have grown in
popularity on TOUR is that they are closely matched to the
extra-stiff steel shafts that have dominated for decades. Instead
of a stereotypical light, whippy feel, Aerotech has produced shafts
that are heavier, stiffer, and stronger than the graphite iron
shafts that were seen on TOUR starting in the 1990s. Both Kuchar
and Snedeker play a 95-gram SteelFiber model, which are still
considerably lighter than standard extra-stiff steel shafts, which
are 25-35 grams heavier.
SNEDEKER KEEPS IT SIMPLE: Snedeker added the
high-tech shafts to his irons, but that is about it. He won the
TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola -- and the FedExCup that went with
it -- with years-old technology in his driver and putter. Snedeker
plays Bridgestone J40 irons -- the same irons Kuchar used to win
THE PLAYERS -- but the rest of his bag is a hodgepodge. Snedeker
might be the most finicky player on TOUR when it comes to drivers.
In short, he hates to change them. He used the TaylorMade 425 R7
long after other players upgraded, and he was using a 2008-era
TaylorMade Burner Superfast TP early this season before it was
damaged. He switched to a first-edition R11 (not the R11s), but
eventually found a replacement for the Superfast. As for his
putter, it's even older. Snedeker has used the same Odyssey White
Hot XG Rossie heel-shafted mallet for years.